Something that had already caught my attention when I first watched Captain America: Civil War, and that now receives my full love, is the scene at the end of the movie when Steve says “I can do this all day” once Tony tells him to surrender. While it is cool in itself that it mirrors skinny Steve from the 1940s, it is cooler to me for another reason.
As soon as Steve says “I can do this all day”, a heavily beaten Bucky lying on the floor, and devoid of his metal arm reaches for Tony’s leg, to stop him from hitting Steve. This mirrors the real Bucky, the guy who befriended Steve when both were children, the guy who always got Steve’s back, who didn’t care about Captain America but for the little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb to run from a fight.
To me that’s the crucial Bucky moment of the whole movie. That’s the moment when you know why Steve is fighting for Bucky. Inside of that broken, pretty dehumanised man, is still that kid from Brooklyn who couldn’t bare to see his best friend hurting.
The follow up of the “I can do this all day” scene in Captain America: the First Avenger is this:
They did go to the future. Yes, things changed and both of them changed, but at the same time they are still the same. The tiny, skinny, sickly kid who would never run from a fight, and his best friend, who would be with him till the end of the line.
Some time ago there was a post on my dashboard saying that the Captain America trilogy is beautifully symmetric, for Steve Rogers picked up the shield for Bucky and gave the shield up for Bucky, becoming Captain America and retiring from that position because of his friend. But to me that’s not it.
To me this trilogy is beautifully symmetric because of those two mirroring scenes I talked about above. Because Steve Rogers can expend his whole day, not to say his whole life, fighting for what he believes is right, and Bucky Barnes will always get his back, till the end of the line. Be it in the 1940s or the 21st century.
Captain America is Steve Rogers. A shield doesn’t make him. Being able to “do this all day” is what makes Captain America, be it in the past or in the future. From beginning to end Steve Rogers is not a perfect soldier, but a good man. At the same time, Bucky Barnes is not what Hydra made of him, what it made him do. He isn’t just a perfect soldier. Inside the perfect soldier “ready to comply” has always been trapped a good man.
The more I watch the scene with Phillips telling Steve they’re not going to rescue anyone, the more I feel Phillips is playing him. “Nope, we’re not going to go after them, because – and let me point out very clearly and specifically on this map exactly where they are – it is in dangerous territory and I will not order anyone to go in there”.
“Incidentally, Rogers, I know you have hero-issues coming out the wazoo and you want to be respected as a soldier and a man, so I will diss you to your face, call you a chorus girl, and basically wind you up to the point that you do something damned reckless and stupid without orders, because you’re the kind of dumbass hero who will jump on a grenade for your fellow-man or chase down an armed man while unarmed and barefoot in your shorts and I know this because I watched you do it before.”
“And Carter, if you’re about to say something, just don’t, because no one needs to know that I know exactly what I’m doing. It’s called ‘dance, monkey, dance’. And if he dies, wasn’t on my orders.”
You notice that he’s not exactly surprised about Steve being Captain Dumbass Hero. You’ll notice he’s also not massively surprised when Steve returns.
Colonel Chester Phillips. Didn’t get to be head of the SSR because he’s just a pretty face.
“There’s a great scene in The Winter Soldier where Captain America knows he’s about to be attacked by 20 men in a moving elevator, and says, “Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?” Evans performs it convincingly with equal amounts of mild boyish glee, amused lightness, matter-of-fact resignation, chutzpah, and confident menace. It’s a wonderful moment, in no small part because you realize just how much fun it’s become to watch Chris Evans excel at playing (and growing with) this character. It’s one of many moments in a Marvel movie that makes you realize there really was greatness in Chris Evans.”
(You can read this without the visual aids on AO3.
March 10, 1917 – James Buchanan Barnes is born, and we were all officially fucked.
July 4, 1918 – Steven Grant Rogers is born, and somewhere in Brooklyn Bucky’s mother wept …
June, 1924 – Steve’s mother is bedridden from illness associated with Tuberculosis.
September, 1930 – 12-year old Steve and 13-year old Bucky meet for the first time in Hell’s Kitchen, where Bucky scares off bullies trying to steal Steve’s money. What were they doing in Hell’s Kitchen? No one knows. Steve tells Bucky he’s been living in the orphanage ‘on 8th’ since his mother’s death. Which is odd since Bucky was apparently at her funeral when they’re both legal adults in a flashback scene from the Winter Soldier. For the purpose of this timeline, info from the movies will take precedent over info from the various tie-ins. Meaning Sarah Rogers is basically Schrodinger’s Ma for the next 6 years.
1936 – Shrodinger’s Ma finally actually dies fo sho of Tuberculosis. Bucky breaks everyone and their mother’s heart with his ‘til the end of the line’ line.
I came here to add this bit that I just stumbled over and found that this post had like 500 more notes than I was expecting…..hi? I’ve added more info to the AO3 version of this, if you’re interested in this kind of stuff.
I saw this cover go past on my dash, it’s from Captain America No. 33, 1943, and recognized the name on the sign.
Brenner Pass was the pass through the Alps that was the focus of Operation Cold Comfort. I just thought that was interesting
Sometimes I think about the fact that Steve Rogers was actually so fucking young in Avengers 1 and cry
Like this kid had already been involved in one of the bloodiest wars in human history. He’d watched his best friend fall to his death. He’d died for his country before the age of what, 25? 26? And then someone drags him out of the ice and hands him a blanket and pushes him back into SHIELD’s waiting arms, back to fight another war, another battle, because to him they must just never end. Seventy Years passed and nothing has changed. He’s still being told to die. And I think a lot of people just don’t realise this, but he’s still in his mid-twenties. He’s leading a team of people he doesn’t know in a world that is completely foreign to him and it’s only been five years since he was in his teens.
Steve Rogers is so old that he forgets that he’s actually really, really fucking young. I don’t think, even once in his entire life, he has ever been able to act his own age.
First I know nothing about Marvel comics: all my context I got from the films Thor (delightful) and Avengers Assemble (remember very little except it had good jokes and the final action scene was too long), and reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier last night because of this which I saw a few people reblog:
(okay and also all the gifsets of Sebastian Stan crying. I WAS MIS-SOLD ON THIS FOR THE RECORD, THERE IS LITTLE TO NO CRYING AND ALSO HIS HAIR IS AWFUL.)
If Kavalier and Clay taught me anything it’s threesomes are the best solutions to love triangles Jewish-American cartoonists in the 1930s and early ’40s were all over inventing subversively American heroes to fight Hitler, and I was very unsurprised when I got home and looked it up to learn that Captain America was created by two Jewish guys too. (I know this is really basic comics history stuff and I’m sure fifty people have written dissertations on “He’s A Mensch: The Jewish Identities of Captain America and Superman” or whatever.) What really slotted everything into place was realising that Captain America was created and entered on a cover punching Hitler in the face before America had entered the war.
Basically (right?) Captain America was created by two Jewish-Americans to shame the US into properly fighting Hitler.
Like, I am Captain America, the America you say you want to be, and I challenge you to put your money where your mouth is and actually do something about it. And yes he’s over-the-top and tacky but that’s where the challenge is, right? The chest-thumping American patriotism says “We are good and spread liberty! And also freedom!” and Captain America is like “great! I am that, and I have to point out you are not actually doing that”.
AND I think this is Jewishly on purpose, and here’s why:
Judaism has this important phrase/concept/slogan/life motto from the third-century-ish text Pirkei Avot, which goes: Lo alecha hamlacha ligmor (it’s not to you to complete the work of repairing the world) v’lo atah ben chorin l’hivatel mimena (but neither may you desist from it). You won’t be able to fix the world by yourself, or in your lifetime, but that doesn’t absolve you of responsibility to work towards it.
I feel like grimdark/anti-heroes are a response to the fact that the world is neither good nor moral, like “well if the world isn’t like that, I won’t be either”. But they’re also excuses for not working towards fixing the world: I won’t bother because it’s all fucked anyway. Lo alecha and Captain America say, yes, it is fucked, but you still have to work towards fixing it. And yes, it’s hard, that’s why it’s called work.
Which is why I think saying “Oh, if Captain America represents the US he should be a dick, because the US is a dick” or “Captain America is an imperialist symbol of US superiority and is therefore bad” are both off base and a dodge of having to do that hard work.
“If Cap = America then Cap = dick because America = dick” is basically just throwing hands up and going “right but guys have you noticed that actually America is imperialist and horrible? DO YOU SEE?!” and implying “so what can you do about that, right?”. Captain America says, “Try to make it better! is what you can do!”
And about saying he’s a symbol of US imperial superiority, I mean, he is a symbol of America but aimed as a criticism at real America. He’s the American ideal cranked up to five million – for the purpose of shaming America for not living up to what it says it wants to be. And he is aimed at Americans, so I can see a criticism for him being US-centric in that metanarrative sense, but he’s yelling at America to sort their shit out and I think him yelling at non-USAmericans to sort their shit out would be much worse? But I definitely don’t think Cap is supposed to be about how great America is, he’s about pointing out exactly in what ways and how much America is failing to be great. And then saying “but, that doesn’t mean you get out of trying harder!”
Also, how great is it that his ‘weapon’ is a shield.
so um that’s what I thought about when I saw The Winter Solder last night. that and biceps.
This is amazing on so many levels and also makes me want to have a special fandom-centric Shvi’i shel Pesach/seventh night of Passover virtual seder table on Tumblr to talk about the intersections of Judaism and popular culture with food and media crit and discussions of the diaspora. ALSO everyone should read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS
This history of Captain America is really fascinating. He was created by Jewish comic book writers as a way to drum up support to ax Hitler and defeat Nazis WELL before mainstream America wanted to even go near Nazi occupied Germany and Europe and in a time when there was actually plenty of support FOR Nazis and their ideals in this country.
Cap could go where many Jews and other minorities could not go at the time. He could take a serum and become the ultimate defender and fighting machine. He was designed to go into Europe and eradicate Nazis not as a statement of “fuck yea, ‘merica” macho manliness, but as someone giving aid and taking a stand against injustice. This is the immigrant’s version of American ideals. You think Steve is punching out HYDRA for his health? Steve was designed to be the hero every persecuted person in Nazi Europe deserved, but never got.
Even the movie downplays it too much. That scene in the first movie where Steve says he doesn’t want to kill Nazis, just stop bullies. Bullshit. Steve has all the idealism of the immigrant dream of America in the 30s and 40s and all the anger of the injustices done to them. His weak physical form is designed to mirror the powerlessness of many Jewish Americans both economically, socially, and politically at the time. It’s only thanks to a German (and HIGHLY CODED GERMAN-JEWISH) doctor that he receives the means to become the weapon and defender he can be. He’s not built to stop “bullies” he’s created to destroy a credible threat to minorities. Utterly and completely.
Steve Rogers is the idealized Jewish immigrant,
but…
Captain America is a golem and don’t forget it.
Created for the sole purpose of defending those unable to fight back, or needing a powerful ally in their fight.
Everything about one of the most iconic superheros in American culture is Jewish even if Steve Rogers himself is not. His story is. And if you deny it, erase it, or in any way tamper with it (Looking right at the current ongoing trash that comics has to offer Steve) then there is literally no point to Cap’s character or goals.
He’s the power fantasy of Jewish writers who wanted to get rid of fascism in all forms.
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